Pistons' Lawrence Frank: Speculation of firing 'comes with the territory'

Detroit News | Apr 7

One day you're headed to Rutgers, the next you're potentially on the road to the unemployment line.

Oh, the life of Lawrence Frank.

This is the time of year when the rumor mill begins to churn and underachieving coaches start to look for other jobs — or look over their shoulder.

Frank had to deflect rumors of the Rutgers' coaching vacancy a few days ago, and on Saturday ESPN.com's Marc Stein ranked the Pistons as "the team in coaching circles rated as most likely to make a change."

So, naturally, Frank had to answer questions about his job security.

"When you have a record like we have, it comes with the territory," Frank said before the Pistons lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-101, on Saturday night at Target Center. "I haven't asked, because I understand."

The Pistons' 25-52 record is well below expectations, even though the team is rebuilding and looking to this summer — where they'll have cap space, because of expiring contracts and another lottery pick, to rapidly accelerate the process of being competitive.

Combined with last year's 25-41 mark, Frank's record is 50-93 on the job and the Pistons have taken marked steps backward in the second half of this season.

Stein said the Pistons are said to be increasingly concerned with the body language of players and lukewarm responses out of timeouts.

Unlike the Rutgers' job, where Frank would have to leave the Pistons to take a college gig, this situation will be decided by the Pistons' ownership group, led by Tom Gores, after the season.

Frank has one guaranteed year left on his three-year deal, with a team option for a fourth year.

"That's the nature of the business, it's results oriented," Frank said. "I've been in this before. You focus on what you can control."

Frank has been fired before, from New Jersey when the Nets got off to a record-worst 0-16 start to the 2009-10 season.